News from the Bellbrook High School newspaper class

3 Movies to See this November

By Rachel Giffin

Grab the popcorn and let’s go! With so many films rolling out this November, it can be difficult to decide which ones to see and which ones to skip. Marking the top of the box offices, here are a few that are definitely worth the watch.

With newly-acquired magical powers, Doctor Strange must choose whether to return to his civilian life or leave it all behind to defend the world as the most powerful sorcerer in existence.

Reviews:

“What Robert Downey Jr. is to Iron Man and Ryan Reynolds is to Deadpool—that’s what Benedict Cumberbatch is to Doctor Strange. By that I mean, he’s everything…The British actor, flashing an American accent eons away from the plummy tones of Sherlock or Hamlet, is the creative spark that ignites this bracing new entry in the Marvel cinematic universe.”- Rolling Stone

“All in all, Doctor Strange is a fun and trippy excursion to a place where Marvel rarely seems to go: that is, to the retinal roots of the comics.The story may be nothing to write home about, but the sights to be seen there—which put the ‘bullet time’ sequence of X-Men: Days of Future Past‘ to shame—are Instagrammable.” –The Washington Post

Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) has just completed a global excursion to find and document an extraordinary array of magical creatures. He arrives in New York, where he meets a No-Maj (American for Muggle) named Jacob, and some of Newt’s fantastic beasts escape, spelling trouble for both the wizarding and No-Maj worlds.

Reviews:

“Reviving the magical universe from the second biggest franchise of all time is a pretty risky move, but Fantastic Beasts does a good job of blending the familiar with the new.” –Screencrush

“Fantastic Beasts is a rich, baroque, intricately detailed entertainment with some breathtaking digital fabrications of prewar New York City. This is Steampunk 2.0, taking its inspirations from Terry Gilliam’s Brazil or Howard Hawks’s His Girl Friday but the New York she creates also has the dark, traumatized look of Gotham City. The American wizards themselves are subject to an internal debate about their attitude to the civilians; in America a muggle is known as a ‘no-maj.’ It’s a schism that threatens to reach X-Men proportions. Rowling and Yates have given us a terrifically good-natured, unpretentious and irresistibly buoyant film. There’s a scene in a speakeasy where someone orders ‘six shots of giggle-water.’ This film felt to me like twelve.” –The Guardian

John DeFore at The Hollywood Reporter thinks the film works extremely well, but it does have some shortcomings:

“Invention and effects are the name of the game here, predictably, and this world invites us in as effectively as the best of the Potter episodes. (Only in scenes where actors pretend to handle tiny snake-like dragons is a CG illusion unconvincing.) Somewhat less effective is the film’s character-bonding agenda: Breaks in the action for, say, backstory about Newt’s long-lost love sometimes feel like items on a checklist.” –The Hollywood Reporter

Moana (Auli’i Cravalho), princess of her local island, sets out on a journey where she meets the once-mighty demigod Maui (Dwayne Johnson) who guides her in her quest to become a master way-finder. Together they sail across the open ocean, encountering enormous monsters and impossible odds. Along the way, Moana fulfills the ancient quest of her ancestors and discovers her own identity.Reviews:

“A crowd-pleasing oceanic musical with big tunes and beguiling characters, Moana is likely to thwack a big smile on your face. And did we mention the idiotic chicken?” –Empire

“More than ‘Tangled,’ more than ‘Frozen,’ ‘Moana’ keeps with the tradition that made Disney the leader in animated fairy and folk tales.” –Variety